Dog tales

Posted by Rice on Aug 25, '07 1:17 PM
The Bible many times uses animals to teach humans lessons. Whether birds, fish, donkeys, cattle(the ones on those 1000 hills). Here is a true story of how God used a dog to teach several lessons.

It all started last year when our family broke down and bought a little puppy.(never mind what kind, just stay with me.)  It was a trying time of teaching the dog to not sprinkle the carpet and bark all night. Pretty standard stuff when you are “house-breaking” a dog.

Our two youngest children are 8 and 11. They were delighted to have a little dog, but were realizing the energy needed to take care of it. The most difficult part was whenever someone opened a door in our house, the dog would dart out the door and run off into the neighborhood.

The real problem came when it ran repeatedly into a neighbor’s yard (not our next door neighbor). One day, I received a call that this neighbor had our little dog in “custody” (in their house) and that I must ”personally” come down to get our dog back. Our children told me how they were scolded by the neighbor and told how “bad” they were for letting the dog get out in the first place.

So off I go to get our dog back, not knowing the kind of reception I would receive. True to form, this woman met me at the door holding our little dog and without giving me any chance to even thank her for taking our dog in, proceeds to lecture me on what “bad dog owners” we are. I simply stood there, enduring the tirade trying to remember that as a Pastor I must show the ultimate restraint.

I did manage a little apologetic that our children were not negligent, but that the dog simply ran out the door before they could react. My explanation seemed to fall on deaf ears. When I returned, our children were upset because this woman had scared them with her actions. Of course, it was a great moment to talk about love and forgiveness and our Lord’s command to “love your neighbor as yourself.”

I figured that was the end of the story- until today. While enjoying a morning cup of coffee with my wife Jody, she looked out the front window and saw a cute little dog in our front yard (You probably already know what’s coming). We opened the front door and it ran right into our house, almost like it knew where it was supposed to go. We picked up the dog and looked at the I.D. bracelet and wrote down the address and phone number of the owner. It began to dawn on me that this might be a strange coincidence.

Sure enough, when we checked the address, it was the very neighbor that had lectured us so strongly about our dog getting out. The children began to cheer, (shades of the Wizard of Oz) and then I too was forced to restrain my joy. I picked up the phone and let our neighbors know that we had their dog and they could come and retrieve it. Of course, the woman that gave me the lecture didn’t come. When her husband got out of the car I greeted him with my little children standing by with a smile on their faces.

I told him that I hoped this could bring some peace between us because “these things happen”. He was obviously embarrassed and totally at a loss for words. I told him that it was no trouble taking the dog in and if it got out again we would not mind bringing it back. He was a very nice man and I'm sure they are both fine people.

When we closed our door and talked about it as a family, the other lesson was glaringly  obvious. “Judge not, lest you be judged.” It’s easy to be a critic and to find fault with the mistakes of others. It’s better to be forgiving and merciful. That lesson is not just for our neighbor, but it is for all of us.